The Change
by Spage
Summary: Blood and Chocolate fanfic: The story follows Brooke, a 16-year-old were-wolf, to New England with one of her brothers to help a pack with a stray that could expose the pack. Rated PG-13 for sexual connotations and language
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters...etc. from Blood and Chocolate.  
  
Prologue  
Brooke pushed aside her tent-flap and stumbled out into the predawn gray of early morning. She tripped and staggered across the campsite to her parents' tent, still half asleep. She pulled aside the stiff, gray tent- flap of her parents' tent and squinted into the gray gloom. Her parents weren't there. Their sleeping bags weren't even strewn on the floor. Brooke sniffed the air and found that her parents' was very faint. She turned and raised the tent-flap again, stepped out and took a quick glance around at the dead-still campsite looking for any sign of her parents. Something rustled from within the boys' tent. It pulled back the tent flap and popped of its shaggy, white-blond head with the rest of its body in toe. Rick pushed his bangs from his light blue eyes. At 13 ½, he was tall for his age, and his limbs were to long for his torso.  
"Mom and Dad up ye-et?" his voice cracked. It had been doing that ever since they had gotten out here in the woods, and the twins had been teasing him at every turn. He glared at her as though daring her to follow Blain's and Trent's example, but it was too early in the morning to waste her precious energy on taunting her brother for something he couldn't help.  
"Iguesso," she mumbled, not exerting the energy to articulate, so her words slurred. "Theyrenotthere." She motioned towards the tent where her parents should be. Rick meandered over, lifted the tent-flap, and shrugged.  
"Hum..." he looked a bit puzzled; his parents were late sleepers. "Maybe they went for a run or some-thing," but he didn't sound too reassuring, and his voice cracked again. He sniffed the air and walked along the edges of the campsite searching out his parents' trail with Brooke on his heels. He spotted a broken twig, His parents' sent ws stronger there than anywhere else in the camp, so he motioned for Brooke to follow him into the forest.  
Brooke watched as Rick's hair grew even shaggier and his muscles bulged on his lanky limbs as he started to change. Brooke clutched at her jacket she had thrown over her PJs. It may have been May, but the mornings were still very cool in the Alaskan forest. She was peering through the trees and saw the blood-red light of dawn spilt over the gray-blue sky. Suddenly, a smell hit her. It made her head spin. She tripped over something and landed hard on her face. Her palms and knees stung, but it didn't hurt enough to make her cry. The smell enveloped her. She turned to see what she had tripped over, and what she saw made her scream 


	2. Chapter 1: On the Road Again

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters...etc. from Blood and Chocolate. Helix and Creative_Insanity are my co-creators, and with out them, this story would suck.  
  
Sorry to bore you with the next chapter, but maybe more than one person will review this time so I'll know it's not too boring, dull, and a waste of your time to read.  
  
Chapter one: On the Road Again  
  
Brooke studied her parent's faces. Her mom had been beautiful and strong, but soft around the edges. Her long white-blond hair shone in the sun, and it made a soft halo around her face. She stood next to a tall white-blond, kind-faced, and rather handsome man who had his muscular arms wrap around his mate. A tear splattered onto the laminated album page. She wiped the tear off of the page and slammed the book shut. Her parents were robbed of their lives all because of some fucking poacher who took her parents for regular Arctic wolves. She would have killed him if the damn government hadn't gotten to him first. Her and her ten brothers were divided. Her four younger brothers, Ben who's, real name is Benton, was 8 ½; Kevin had been 6; Nate, who's real name was Nathan, was 4; and Dustin hadn't even been 3, had gone to live with Wyatt, her second oldest brother, who had been 20, and his wife Morella, who was pregnant. Chase, then 16; the twins, Blain and Trent, whose real name was Trenton, were nearly 15; Rick, whose real name was Maverick, was13 ½; and Brooke, then 11 2/3, went to live with Jack, the oldest at age 21, who was in college, The first two years were gruesome, but now Chase, now 23; Blain, now married; and Trent, now 21, were out on their own. Brooke had been staying with Blain and his wife Stella in the Washington mountains with Rick, now 19; Dustin, now 10; and Nate, now 12. Rick would be going back to Washington State once the summer was over. Brooke liked living with her brothers, and she was happy, but she had never been the same since she had fallen over her parents' bloody, bullet-filled, gray-dead corpses 6 years earlier. She stood and wiped her eyes that were threatening to spill more tears onto her cheeks.  
Excited voices drifted upstairs from the foyer. She tilted her head in the direction of the stairs. She bolted downstairs where she saw her older brother Chase, who had just graduated from Vermont State University the past spring.  
"Chase!" she rushed to embrace him. He hugged her back.  
"How has my favorite sister been?" this was a long standing joke that the older three brothers had come up with. Blain rolled his eyes.  
"I'm your only sister," she replied automatically ", and I'm..." she tried to say fine, but the word got stuck in her throat. She wasn't 'fine'. He seemed to read her mind.  
"You've been crying again," he whispered so soft that only she could hear. She nodded. "Well I've got something to cheer you up. How would you like to come live with me?"  
"Ah! NO FAIR!!" Nate exclaimed in indignation. Rick smacked him up side the head just hard enough to make him say, "Ow!"  
"Really?!" Brooke squeezed him hard enough to make him wince, noticed, and let go. "When do we go?!" Not that she didn't like living with Blain and 'the babies', but Chase was her second favorite brother only to Rick, and he would be gone most of the time once school started again.  
"Right now actually. You've already miss your first three weeks of school. I would have come to get you sooner, but I'm teaching, and I couldn't get any time off." Brooke stared at him for a split second in amazement. Then she flew upstairs calling back at Chase, "Give me an hour, and I'll be ready to go!"  
One hour, a quick launch, and some hurried goodbyes latter, Brook and Chase were speeding along the interstate, catching up on what had happened since April.  
"You remember my friend Brian that I mentioned. He went to VU?" Chase glanced at her quickly before returning his bright blue eyes to the winding road.  
"You mean the one you never shut up about? Yeah, why?" Brooke knew he was leading up to something.  
"Well, his pack is having some trouble with a stray," he chanced another side- long glance at her.  
"So what? Just beat 'em 'round a bit," she shrugged.  
"That's just it. They don't know who it is."  
"What do you mean 'they don't know who it is'? Can't they just sniff them out or something?" Brooke was astonished. She couldn't believe that they couldn't locate this stray. It was kind of pathetic.  
"They picked out some sort of sent in the high-school, but as for knowing who the scent belongs to..." there was something more to this; Brooke was sure of it.  
"So where do I come in in all of this?" she looked hard at her brother.  
"Well, since they found the scent in the high school, probably 11th or 12th grade, we thought it we would be good if we had some inside information. Brian's teaching 12th grade math, and I'm teaching 11th grade English, but we thought having a student..."  
"Don't they have any teens in their pack?"  
  
"Yeah, but his brothers won't be back until after the first full moon. There's one girl, Brian's very distant cousin, but he doesn't really seem to trust her quite enough to take on the job. And there are five other boys, but three of them don't even go to school, and they, well..."  
"You mean, you want me to be your inside informer?"  
"Well, yeah."  
"Cool! It'll be like James Bond, but without the sex, guns, cool cars, gadgets, and high speed chases! Ok, so it won't be like James Bond, but still..." She shrugged and yawned. She sank back into the leather seat of her brother's black jaguar and slept. 


	3. Chapter 2: Back to School Blues

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters...etc. from Blood and Chocolate. I could only dream of being so talented. Hellix and Creative_Insanity are kinda what you'd call co-creators.  
  
Anyway, I'm here to bore you with another chapter, not that anyone except for Hellix cares. Thanks for the overwhelming amount of reviews to go from. **cough cough** For those of you out there who are rather slow, what I just said is called sarcasm. That's right. I've gotten THREE, count them THREE reviews, and one of them doesn't really count seeing as I sank to a new level of patheticness by reviewing myself. Please don't make me feel that bad again. **sniff sniff** This is just thirty years of therapy waiting to happen. I can see it now: "I was abused and neglected..." Anyway, enough of my pity-party. On with the show...  
  
Chapter Two: Back to School Blues  
  
Brooke slipped into the World History class room two minutes tardy clutching her pink late pass from the front office. The teacher's back was to her. His aged and wrinkled hand was writing some dates on the board. He heard the door close behind Brooke and turned his bald head around on his rounded shoulders to peer at her through his thick, over-sized spectacles that magnified his eyes to twice their natural size. She held out her pass to him. He held it to his nose and squinted his eyes to make out the fine print.  
"Ah, yes," he said in a shaky voice. He lifted a feeble finger and pointed it toward the back of the room. "Please take a seat behind Miss Helena." She followed his feeble finger to a girl in the next to last row with sandy blond hair. She was bent over a piece of paper and was scribbling furiously away on it, and Brooke was certain she wasn't taking notes. The entire class looked asleep. A girl in the back corner was giving herself a pedicure, and the guy in front of that Helena-girl was drawing all over his arm. She sat down in her seat and took out her 'spy' note book and looked around the class again, inspecting each student thoroughly. Pedicure girl-no. The guy in front of her had a tough look except for the fact that his tattooed arms were supporting his sleepy head. Brooke went up and down the rows and didn't find anyone else until she came to one girl. Her dark brown hair had been artfully cut to seem like someone had just taken yard cutting shears to it. Her black shirt had more safety pins in it than Brooke could count, and her black combat boots came to her knees. Her red and black plaid skirt that came to about mid-thigh was bedecked with zippers. 'Werewolf' just screamed at her, and she put a big star next to her desk in the seating arrangement she had drawn up for herself. Then the bell rang. 'Mr. Corpse' seemed not to have noticed, but all of the class came to life. Brooke rose and looked down at her list. Two so far in this class. She peered down at the paper Helena-what's-her-face had been writing on.  
The Changes of the Moon  
The moon peeks.  
Its belly full.  
Skin to pelt.  
Nails to claws... Helena grabbed her paper and stuffed it into her bag. How could she know that? Brooke puzzled. Maybe it's coincidence. But Brooke didn't think so. She took out pen and added a star next to Helena's desk.  
  
Brooke sidled into AP Biology five minutes late. The whole class turned to look at her as she opened the door. She recognized the pedicure girl and a few other people from history. She noticed the safety-pin/zipper girl had black headphones draped around her neck, and Brooke could faintly hear the hard rock music Blain liked. She thought she recognized the song as 'Break Stuff'. The teacher looked up. Her pepper-gray hair was pulled severely back into a bun at the nape of her neck; not a single hair was out of place. Her narrow, rectangular spectacles balanced on the bridge of her nose as she looked Brooke up and down and frowned at her.  
"May I help you?" she asked very stiffly. Brooke had the sudden urge to rip her to shreds but suppressed her wild nature. Brooke held out another pink slip (she had one for every class), and the teacher's spotlessly cleaned and well-kept hands daintily took the pink slip.  
"A new student then. Well, we're having a test today. We'll see how much they taught you at that other school of yours. Have a seat next to Ms. Gandallion. Oh, and this is a major test grade." Bitch, Brooke thought. She didn't even bother to point out who ever this Gandal-whatever girl was. There was only one seat open, luckily, so she made her way toward it and slumped down into the hard, cold seat. Chase and his friend would definitely pay for this later.  
  
After a very uneventful lunch of cold steak, she made her way to math. She had been determined not to be late for this class, but she hadn't planned on being 20 minutes early either. She made her way into the math classroom. It was no different than any other math classroom she had ever been in, so she took out history homework, not that she knew any of the answers. At about five minutes until the beginning class, people started to trickle into the classroom. A couple of people from history, two cheerleaders from biology, and a few people she hadn't seen yet, but none of them were werewolf material. Helena slinked though the door just as the bell rang and sat down across the room from Brooke. Ms. Gandal-whatever came in about 30 seconds behind Helena. She slipped her headphones off her ears and took the seat in front of Brooke. Brooke wished she could get a decent scent, but it was impossible when there were 25 kids in the room and almost all of the girls were wearing perfume. It was enough to make her head spin.  
  
Finally, five minutes after the bell had rung, the door opened, and the teacher walked in. His tawny head was only a few inches from hitting the top of the door frame. He had good natured, but somewhat serious features. As he walked to the front of the room, Brooke could see his muscles ripple under his green polo shirt and khakis. His wide, muscular frame barely fit comfortably into his narrow desk chair. He was the spitting image of Chase's endless rantings. This was Brian. She wondered if he would recognize her from any of Chase's descriptions of her. She broke her eyes away and pulled out another pink slip from her back-pack, got up, handed it to him, and returned to her seat. He scanned the note.  
"Brooke is it?" she nodded. He put the piece of paper onto his desk and stood up. "Well, you've chosen a great time to show up as we're still reviewing. This group of numbskulls doesn't have enough brains to fill a teaspoon. How any of you got into Advanced Calc, I'll never know." The cheerleaders giggled flirtatiously, some students laughed a bit, but on a whole, they didn't seem to want to waste their energy.  
The class was reviewing logarithms, something Brooke was very good at, so she diverted her attention to her class mates. One other girl looked like she could be the stray, but Brooke highly doubted it. She made a note of it, however. Looks weren't everything. The rest of the class past dully enough, so Brooke just stared out the window thinking. Her next class was art, and again, Brooke had no idea where the hell it was. Helena was walking by her desk. "Hey! It's Helena, right?" Brooke asked, trying to be friendly. "Just Helen. I've been trying to get that through Mr. Copse's thick, bald head since the beginning of the year," she smiled bashfully. "Do you know where the art room is by any chance?" "Yeah, it's my next class. Come on. Ms. Greene's really nice, but she hates it if you're late." 


	4. Chapter 3: Gut Instincts

Disclaimer: I don't own any material from Blood and Chocolate, and Hellix and Creative_Insanity are what you might call co-creators.  
  
Right, thank you to my one loyal fan out there: Hellix. Without you, I woudn't be posting this fourth chapter of The Change. You know, if more people would read and review I'd get the next chapter up faster. Just a hint.  
  
Chapter Three: Gut Instincts  
  
"So, how was your first week been?" Chase asked as he cut another bite out of his pancakes. "History is a horror. Biology is a bitch. Math's magnificent. Art is awesome. P.E.'s pathetic. French is fascinating. Literature is loathsome. English is... ok. I can't think of an 'e' word that would work," Brooke would have loved to have stayed in bed until noon, but Chase interrupted her recuperation for breakfast. "All right, let's cut to the chase, so I can get back to bed. I've found about 17 potential werewolves, but 10 are really sketchy. I've been giving Brian all of the information during lunch." "Thanks for the low down," he took a bite of bacon, chewed, and swallowed. "Brian's invited us to his place today. Want to come?" Brooke looked up from her plate and swallowed her mouthful of bacon and pancake. "NO! I want to SLEEP, relax, and get my homework done. If you would be so kind to tell the teachers that some of us have a life, I would be very appreciative. I'm going to have to do my biology project this weekend because next weekend's the full moon, and there is no way I'll be able to get it done." She took the last piece of bacon, stuffed it in her mouth, and marched upstairs to start her Biology project on the life cycle and molecular make up of a butterfly.  
  
Brooke walked into Art class on Friday and sat down at a table with Helen. "All right class, today we'll be working on your oil paintings. You know what to do. And Mark, no nudity." The class laughed as people got out paints, brushes and canvasses. Brooke looked across the table to gaze at Helen's canvass. Her dark blobs of color were now taking shape, and if Brooke wasn't mistaken, that shape sure looked like a wolf. The poem and now this? It was possible that the girl was just obsessed with the fictitious werewolves in stories. She had met a boy in sixth grade who had been obsessed with vampires, witches, and the like. It's not like any werewolf she knew wrote and painted about the change. Ms. Gandal-whatever, Liz was her name, seemed like there was almost no way that she couldn't be a werewolf. Brooke would need to speak to Brian face to face before long. She had merely been dropping off her notes when e wasn't there. Brooke had now narrowed it down to nine people for possibly being the stray with Liz topping the list and Helen at number nine. Helen just didn't really seem like a werewolf that was all. It was nearly a full moon. Sunday night was the full moon, so she would be able to examine the behaviors of the nine on her list. If they're perky and chipper, they're either not a werewolf or they've had an unnatural amount of caffeine. As Brooke drifted off into her own thoughts, she hadn't noticed that the bell had rang, signaling the end of class and school. "Uh, I know you really like art and all Brooke, but are you going to stay here all night, or do you want to walk with me?" Helen snapped Brooke back to reality. "Um, no actually. I need to see Mr. Brian about that test Monday," she lied as she shoved her paints back in the drawer. "Why? You're, like, one of the best people in the class," she said to Brooke as they walked out of the art room and down toward their lockers in the math wing. "I just need to check on something to make sure I'm right." Helen gave her one of those "yeah, sure" looks but closed her locker after extraction all of her biology books. "That bitch is so harsh. I hope I can get this report done. Anyway, see ya Monday!" Brooke waved Helen around the corner and made sure the coast was clear. Once she was sure that no one was coming down the hall, she slipped into the math classroom. Brian was sitting at his desk, gazing at piece of notebook paper with what she recognized as Chase's handwriting. Brian looker up, saw her, and placed the paper face down on his desk. "Can I help you, Brooke?" Brian looked slightly puzzled to see her there during the time that most people normally came for extra help on homework. "Yes, actually," she said as she pulled out her most recent set of notes. "You can tell me all you know about these nine people, and I want to see what you and Chase have come up with, so we can compare." Brian relaxed as he took the notebook from her. "I was wondering when I would get to meet you face to face. Pull up a chair." Brooke got a chair from the front row and straddled it. "Uh, Brooke, first of all, are you sure about Helen? I mean, she just doesn't..." he looked up from the notebook to gaze at her with his penetrating green-brown eyes. "I know what you mean. She really doesn't seem like it, but I guess it's one of those dumb gut feelings," she shrugged "All right. Number seven is clean. I checked him out. Same with number three. So that leaves us with six on your list including Helen, which I highly doubt." "What do you mean six?" he had only eliminated two from her list, but Brooke was cut short by the creek of the door as Liz walked in. "Thanks Mr. Brian. That problem has been bugging me all day." Brooke snatched the note nook back from Brian and brushed past Liz.  
  
Liz looked over her shoulder to see Brooke disappearing around the corner. "What was that all about?" Liz said as she turned back to face Brian and sat in Brooke's abandoned chair. "Oh, she came in for a question on the homework from yesterday," Brian lied to Liz. "Sure, whatever," Liz never really paid attention to those boring answers. "Do I really have to go with you to pick up Brett and Craig?" "We've been over this. YES! It's either go with me to the airport to pick up my brothers, or you can spend some quality time with Aunt Persia." Brian glared at her waiting for an answer. "I'd pick you any day!" Liz said, leaping from her chair and grabbing her back pack. "The last time I spent 'quality time' with Aunt Persia, she tried to make me wear this eight-year-old-type skirt and shirt that had hearts all over it. Oh, can I drive?" "Hell no! I just got the jeep out of the shop! I don't want to have to put it back in just yet." Brian grabbed the keys out of Liz's reach and continued to shove his papers into his briefcase. "Oh, Sunday's the full moon and all, ya know. I was wondering if you could talk your dad out of making me go on the pack run. The last fucking time that happened the five tried to make a move on me." Liz cringed. "Don't count on it," Brian mumbled as he walked out the door of his classroom behind Liz and locked the door. "And if my memory serves me correctly, Jay was nearly castrated." "WHAT?!" Liz spun around to glare at Brian. "Don't tell me didn't deserve it because he so fucking did!" 


	5. Chapter 4: Unexpected

Ok, guys, I'm not going to be doing this disclaimer stuff any more, it just wastes my time so, **understood disclaimer from now on**. Sorry it's taken me so long to update, but I've gotten really busy in the past month or so and, well, thing just fell to pieces. Anyway, if all of the writing runs together, like there aren't paragraph breaks, it's not me, but I apologize anyway. I know it's hard to read, but I can't fix it. It's just what happens when I load this thing onto fanfic.net. Thanks for the replies, by the way. They were the fuel I needed to get back onto this story.  
  
Chapter 4: Unexpected  
  
Brooke hit her snooze button for the tenth time that morning. Chase and she had gone for a run through the woods until an hour before dawn. She didn't know how she would be able to make it through school today. She probably wouldn't bother going if she wasn't on her mission to find out who was in the same state as she was. "Brooke, I know you're exhausted, but school starts in thirty minutes and it takes us twenty minutes to get there," Chase mumbled threw the door. "Oh SHIT!" Brook rolled out of bed, shed her pj's, threw on some snug blue jeans and a black tank top, fell down the stairs, tripped over her back pack, and nearly forgot her ten page booklet on butterflies.  
  
As Brooke and Chase pulled up to the school, Chase opened his mouth, "Oh Brooke, I forgot to tell you something..." Chase started, but he was interrupted be Brooke. "Can't it wait Chase? I'm gonna be late!" she choke threw her last mouthful of her slimfast meal bar. She jumped out of the car once in was in park and nearly sprinted to biology, her first class on "C" days. Brooke searched to room for Liz, but she wasn't present. Brooke sat in her seat just as the bell rang. Ms. Bitch entered threw her office door looking as she always did. "Everyone, pass up your life cycle report. Anyone who doesn't have it will receive a zero unless you come to detention for the week." There were a few moans to this, but it seemed most people had done their homework, for once. The door creaked open. Liz stumbled in. Her normally styled hair looked as though she has just rolled out of bed. Instead of her punk-rocker-chick look, she sported a plain white shirt, blue jeans and new balances. "You're two minutes and forty-seven seconds late Miss Gandallion. That will be a detention," sneered Ms. Bitch as thought she thoroughly enjoyed filling Liz's day with detentions. "Keep your shirt on. I've got a note," yawned Liz. Ms. Bitch's face fell; she looked as though Christmas had been canceled. She took the note from Liz, read it, and glared up at Liz again. "I don't suppose you forgot your report?" the old hag added with a shred of hope that Liz would indeed join her in detention. "No, I didn't forget your piece of shi-lovely essay," Liz caught herself and shoved the paper into Ms. Bitch's hands and sat down in the seat in front of Brooke. She laid her head down on the desk and promptly fell asleep. "Today we will be studying the life cycle of the homo sapiens," Ms. Bitch returned to her strict, sever self as she turned her back on the class. "Uh, Ms. Bonitz?" Ralph, a jock football player, raised his hand. "Yes Ralph?" "Uh, what's a homoshapy...honoph...hornysappiun," the class burst into a fit of laughter. Ms. Bitch look stern. "Homo sapiens, Ralph. And a homo sapien is a human being. All of you are homo sapiens," Ms. Bitch explained as if she were talking to first grader. "Not quite," Brooke muttered under her breath. "Now, we will start with birth..." the door creaked open again. "What is it now?!" Ms. Bitch seemed very pissed that her class was now being interrupted for the third time in five minutes. Two guys walked through the doorway. Both were sleepy-eyed and tousle- haired. Brooke thought there was something oddly familiar about them, but nothing was coming to mind. They were almost identical to every last detail, except that one was slightly tall and not quite ass "buff" as his twin (Brooke assumed they were twins). And upon closer inspection, Brooke found that the taller one had sapphire eyes while the buff one had chocolate eyes. Each was holding a yellow re-admittance slip. "Ah, Brett, Craig. Why are you late to your first biology lesson in two weeks?" she demanded sternly of the two as she took their re-admittance slips. "You know how long all that re-admittance stuff takes," tall-twin shrugged. "Um where do you want us to sit?" There were no empty desks in the room. "I have two desks in the closet. Brett, see if you can squeeze a desk next to Brooke." Brett, tall-twin, scanned the room to connect a face to the unfamiliar name. "Craig, see if you can get a desk between Katie and Karlie." Katie and Karlie squirmed with pleasure to have such a good looking male sitting between them. Poor guy, thought Brooke, they'll be hitting on him for the rest of the year. Brett and Craig (she thought she had it right) made their way to the closet and reemerged with a desk each. Craig squeezed into the small space between ditsy-bitch-one and ditsy-bitch- two. Brett still didn't seem to know who "Brooke" was but used to processes of elimination and squeezed along the row and sat his desk down next to Brooke's. His hand brushed across her shoulder. "Oh, sorry," he said sleepily before sliding into his seat. "No problem," Brooke replied quickly, but was a problem. Brooke had just realized what was so familiar about those twins. 


	6. Chapter 5: Diary

AN: Ok, I know I'm a horrible person for not updating in about two months. But good God! I swear I've barely had the time. First exams, then vacation, then stupid computer problems. I also have to share this computer with my brothers, and they like the computer—a lot. But believe me, I've been punished enough. Thanks for all of the reviews though. I hope that this time this chapter doesn't get squashed into on big paragraph because I swear I've got 52 paragraph breaks. I counted. Just a heads up: I'm going to be gone on vacation for the next two weeks with no access to a computer, but I'll update as soon as I get back.  
  
Chapter 5: Diary  
  
Throughout the whole day Brooke had been thinking of nothing else than how many ways she might torture Brian. She wandered how it had managed to slip his mind to tell her that he had two younger brothers—twins!—who attended this school, and were in her grade, and as she had found out, were in all but two of her classes (AP Calc and PE). Brooke hadn't been so engrossed in her hatred for Brian that she didn't eliminate five people from her list. That meant that she had four left: Liz, a guy in PE, a chick in English, and Helen. Brooke hadn't seen Helen that day, but she'd see Helen in calc after lunch. Brooke was starving, but there was something more important at hand than her growling stomach.

Five minutes later she threw open the door to Brian's class room. Brian jumped in surprise and looked up at her. Brooke glowered at him until she heard the click of the shutting door.

"Please, tell me how it managed to slip your mind to mention to me that you had two younger brothers. In this school, no less!" she hissed at him.

"Chase was supposed...."

"Don't go blaming this on Chase. You had plenty of opportunity to tell me," she glared at him. Not getting an answer she sighed and made ready to leave. "So, do you have any other relatives I should know about?" Brooke added sarcastically as she turned to leave.

"Well..." Brian started. Brooke spun around and angrily crosses her arms over her chest. "Liz is one of the pack, but I was going to tell you when she walked in that day." Sure you were, Brooke thought.

"By the way, it's down to P.E. guy, preppy-but-punk-rock English girl, and Helen." She added as an after thought as she opened the door to leave.

"Jeremy's clear. He's almost as peppy as Barney on acid," he told her as the door shut behind her and then opened again. Brian looked up, expecting to see Brooke back again but instead saw his two brothers walking through the door.

"Who was that?" Craig asked.

"Yeah, she's kinda cute," Brett added as the door shut with a click.  
  
Fifteen minutes latter Brooke was rushing back to math when she ran into something quite solid. Books and papers went every where. Brooke dropped to her knees to collect her things. After collecting her books and papers, she looked up to see who she had collided with. It was Helen, though she was hardly recognizable. Her hair was in a very messy ponytail, her navy sweats and black t-shirt clashed, and her socks didn't match. Helen looked very pale and had dark circles under her. She looked exactly how Brooke felt. Maybe she was the stray.

"Hey Helen, Sorry about that," Brooke stood up and helped Helen to stand. "You look horrible. Don't you sleep?" Brooke asked as they walked through the door and took the only empty seats left and the bell rang. Brooke looked around the room for Liz and saw her, her head cradled in her arms. So she's part of the pack, Brooke thought. The next time she and Chase got invited to Brian's and she didn't have too much homework, she would go just to make sure Brett, Craig, and Liz were the only werewolves at the high school that Brian forgot to mention.

Brooke opened her math journal, but it wasn't her math journal. She realized she must have picked up Helen's by mistake, but this was no math journal. It was a diary. As Brooke flipped through the pages, key words and phrases jumped out at her like adopted, moon, and change. Brooke flipped to the most recent entry.  
  
I had that dream again last night. It wasn't much different than last time. It keeps getting more and more vivid. Last night it almost seemed real, and I woke up exhausted. My feet hurt, like always, but this time my palms hurt, too. I don't know. It's really weird. I'm just running through the woods, but it's so real.  
  
Brooke looked back at Helen. Her head was down on her desk and her eyes were only half open. Brooke wanted to know more so she turned back to the date of the last full moon.  
  
_It's only 8:20, but I feel exhausted. I'm going to go to bed.  
_  
Brooke looked at the next day's entry.  
  
_It's a damn good thing that today's Sat. I guess I was really tired; I slept until noon. I had that dream again, but this time it was a little different and a little weirder. In my dream I woke up and walked out into the back yard and unlatched the gate. I took off my p.j.'s and hid them behind the bushes (like I said, weird). Then I started to hurt all over, but it was a good hurt. Then I can't remember what happened next, but then it went into the regular dream. Got to go. Breakfast.  
_  
Brooke went back to the full moon before that one as well, just to make sure it kept the pattern. And surely enough:  
  
_I had the dream again. I know I've had it for forever, but it keeps getting more and more real...  
_  
Brooke stared down at the diary in amazement. Was it possible, if Helen was the stray, just to disregard the whole thing as a dream? Brooke looked over at Helen. Was it possible she didn't know what she was? She had to talk to Brian and let him read what she had found. Though, she realized, she'd have to copy it. Helen would want her journal back.  
  
When the bell rang Brooke had finished copying down the three sections she needed. She knew they'd have to wait until the next full moon to be sure, but the more she thought about it, the more she convinced herself that Helen was, indeed the stray. Brooke would talk to Brian at the end on the day. Brooke quickly shoved her stuff into her back pack and waited until Helen was near her desk. Brooke got her attention.

"Hey, Helen. Can I have my math binder?" Helen looked confused until her eyes spotted the diary in Brooke's hands. Helen's eyes grew wide, but she recovered herself and fumbled around in her backpack for Brooke's binder. She found it, and the girls traded notebooks.

"You didn't read this, did you?" Helen clutched the journal to her.

"No, I didn't even open it when I didn't see my name on it," and for a moment, Brooke silently thanked the moon that Chase had made her write her name on all of her binders.

"Ok, I'll see you in art," Helen called out as she slinked out the door. Brooke made her way to English.  
  
In art they were learning how to weave intricate pictures on an afghan. Evidently, Ms. Greene had taught weaving last year and the year before in her previous art classes. But Brooke, not having taken the art classes, was having plenty of trouble. She'd had to start over twice: once because her design was too complicated and again because she had turns her afghan into a big knot. She had finally come to a design of the night sky that only required five six colors. Brooke was now about ½ an inch into her afghan. She looked around; most people were at lest three inches into theirs. This is hopeless, thought Brooke as she sighed.

Ms. Greene came around to inspect her students.

"Very good Michael," praised Ms. Green. "Excellent, Helen. Staying with the wolf theme, I see?"

"Oh, I'm...uh...redoing my bedroom," Helen muttered as her fingers flew across the loom.

Ms. Green made her way to Brooke. "Have you ever done this before?" It was a rhetorical question.

"What does it look like?" Brooke was rather frustrated at this point.

"Hmm...Helen, why don't you come to a stopping point and help Brooke," Ms. Greene smiled and then continued her tour of the class. Helen left her loom and came to Brooke.

"How much time until this torture session ends?" Brooke huffed and Helen laughed as she checked her watch.

"Ten minutes." Brooke groaned.

"So, you're redoing your room?" Brooke asked as she made another knot in her afghan.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Helen answered. "Cool theme. Your parents don't mind?" Brooke asked, and a dark looked fell over Helen's features.

"My parents don't even know I exist." Brooke gave Helen a questioning look. Helen offered an explanation. "I'm adopted. My real parents were killed somehow. I don't know. Well, anyway, my adopted parents couldn't have kids, so they adopted me. I guess they just see me as the-next-best-thing. After I turned 13 they stopped caring, I guess." Helen just shrugged. "So, what are your parents like?" Brooke swallowed hard.

"They were great," Brooke said in a small voice. Helen's eyebrows rose at the recognition of past tense. "They were killed when I was 11. Well, I've got 10 brothers. The oldest, Jack, was in college, so he took Chase, Blain, and Trent; they're older. And since Wyatt, the second oldest, was married, he took the youngest five."

"Oh," Helen plainly hadn't expected that answer. "Well, um, are you still living with...um...what's his name?"

"Oh, no!" Brooke exclaimed as she untangled her afghan. "He's got two kids of his own plus Dustin and Nate, the two youngest. Kevin and Ben are with Jack. They're both younger than me. Rick's at college, and so is Trent. Blain just got married over the summer. I'm staying with Chase here. He's the new English teacher—Mr. Whyte. He just graduated last year from VU."

"Wow. Ok, let me get this straight. You have six older brothers, four younger brothers, and you're an aunt. How do you keep up with all of those birthdays?" Helen looked at her with an over dramatic face of questioning and shock.

Brooke smiled. "Wyatt's wife Morella calls everybody two weeks ahead of time and then again a week before. She's so organized she scares the living crap out of me."

"Five minute warning! Clean up!" Ms. Greene called out to her students. Helen and Brooke cleaned up their stuff and waited for the bell to ring.

"Hey, what are you doing this Friday night?" Brooke asked Helen. "Nothing. Why?" "Why don't we go to the movies or something."

"Sure! Sounds great!" Helen exclaimed.

"I'll call you to sort out the details," Brooke said as the bell rang.

"Where are you going?" Helen asked. "I gotta go see Mr. Brian for extra help on this one problem," Brooke answered as Helen rolled her eyes.

"Perfectionist," Helen mumbled under her breath.


	7. Chapter 6: Surprise Encounters

_AN: Hello all to all of my wonderful and adoring fans! How I've missed you so whilst I've been away. For all of you who care to know, I had a wonderful vacation, and I wish it could have lasted longer, but then I wouldn't be able to update which would suck. Anyway, not exactly enjoying to ominous return of school in three weeks, but I'll get over it by the beginning of next summer. Ok, this chapter has a lot of dialog and I sincerely hope that I made it clear enough without saying "said Liz", "said Brian", etc. after every spoken part because that just get mundane and annoying. Well enjoy reading whilst I slave away over the key board to bring you the next chapter within two weeks, for that is my goal. We'll see how it works out. Oh, and by the way, as much as I really enjoy the praises being showered down upon me, some constructive criticism wouldn't go amiss._  
  
Chapter 6: Surprise Encounters  
  
Brooke closed the door behind her as she entered the room.  
  
"Well?" Brian asked.  
  
"One sec," Brooke mumbled agitatedly as she rummaged around in her back-pack for the diary entries. "Here," she mumbled as she past the notes to him.  
  
"Well?" she nagged impatiently. Brian's eyes widened in disbelief.  
  
"Where did you get this?" he asked pointing to the paper.  
  
"I copied it out of Helen's diary." Brian nodded.  
  
"Keep an eye on her. Look out for any strange or aggressive behavior, moodiness, sudden emotional changes—"  
  
"Brian. You do realize you just described every teenage girl on the face of the planet." Brooke pointed out.  
  
"You know what I mean." Brian sighed. "We'll have to wait until the next full moon to be sure, but it looks like your hunch paid off."  
  
"So I'll see you tomorrow then?" Brooke asked as she headed toward the door.  
  
"Um...yeah. And don't forget to tell your brother," Brian reminded her.  
  
"Oh, but I don't forget to tell people important information that they need to know, thank you very much. And speaking of brothers, how are your?" Brooke glared at Brian. Brian groaned.  
  
"Brooke, would you drop that all ready?" Brooke raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms in a way that plainly said, 'um...no'. "Anyway, you can ask them yourself. They should be here any minute now."  
  
"No. That's ok. I need to get going." But before Brooke even finished her sentence, the door knob turned, and the door opened slowly. Brooke cloud here voices before they came into the room.  
  
"So, glad we came back to school? Or would you have rather stayed at Uncle Rudy's for a bit longer?" The door opened some more and a sneakered shoe and worn jean pant leg became visible.  
  
"Are you fucking me? I swear – if I have to sit through one more class like the Bitch's after this year, I'm dropping out of high school!" Now a slightly tanned hand and arm.  
  
"Awe, come on. Isn't there at least something good about that class?" Now a torso clothed in a plain black t-shirt and the side of a golden-brown haired head.  
  
"Well, that chick that I sat next to wasn't a bad sight to come back to..." Brett fell silent as he came all of the way into the room and noticed that he had an audience. Brett cleared his throat nervously, and Brooke shifted her weight uncomfortably. Craig came into the room behind his brother.  
  
"Hey, what's the hold up?...Oh," Craig stated flatly.  
  
Brian, not understanding what had just been said, smiled up at his brothers. He stood and walked around his desk toward Brooke. "So, how was your first day back to school?" Brian didn't wait for an answer. "Brett, Craig, this is Brooke Whyte, Chase's younger sister. She's going to be coming up to the inn this Saturday with her brother for the cook out."  
  
"Hi," said Brooke rather shyly.  
  
"Hey," said Brett very quietly.  
  
"Nice to finally meet you," said Craig cheerfully and completely disregarding his twin's discomfort.  
  
"Um, well it was nice to meet you both, but I need to get going. Don't want to keep Chase waiting too long," Brooke excused her self and brush past Brett to the door. When the door clicked shut behind her Craig burst out laughing.  
  
"That was great!" he chuckled. Brett glared at him. "What it was. Ah, come on. You were like 'oh she was hot', and there she was right in front of you. You should've seen your face!" Craig continued laughing and Brett made a noise in his throat that was near to a growl.  
  
"What?! It was funny!" Craig exclaimed, but he did get himself back under control.  
  
"No it wasn't," countered Brett.  
  
"Yeah it was. Well, now that your feelings are out in the open you could just go ahead and ask her out with out all of that tentative courtship crap." Craig started laughing again. Brian looked down at his watch.  
  
"Well, I'll just get my stuff together and then we can go." Brain said; he had completely not understood what had happened. At that very moment to door flew open, and in stepped Liz with her head phones draped around her neck again looking rather upset over something.  
  
"Ok this is about all I can stand! I'm tired, I've got homework enough to fill an Olympic size pool, and you know what? I was so out of it that I went all the way to the parking lot and looked around for my baby before I realized that it's still in the shop! This is hell! I swear I'm never going to speed again if it means I have to have my tires rotated and the oil changed and all that other shit done ever other week! EERRHHGG!!!" Liz slammed the door behind her and threw herself into one of the desk chairs.  
  
"Damn it Liz! Calm down!" Craig said to her.  
  
"Calm down?! You want me to calm down?! I've been without my baby since last Thursday! Get me my car back and I'll calm down," Liz said in a crazed whisper.  
  
"If it will make you feel better, you get your car back tomorrow afternoon," Brain said off hand as put papers in his brief case.  
  
"Yes, but today isn't tomorrow is it? I still don't have my car, and I want my car now, not 24 hours from now, now." Liz continued in her crazed manner.  
  
"Alright psycho car addict lets go. You're not the only one with homework up to your ears. I need to get home and catch up on Biology." Craig said as he made for the door. Liz got up and followed him and then Brett after her. Liz finally noticed Brett was around.  
  
"What's up, Brett? Why so subdued?" Liz asked.  
  
"Well, you see it's really rather a funny story...." Craig said as they made they're way done the hall to the parking lot.

Brooke opened the door to her brother's class room. Chase looked up from the quiz he was grading. "Hey babe. How's it going?" he looked back down at the quiz. "This kid must have not even opened the book or paid attention to class discussions. He missed every single question. All 25 of them and both of the extra credit. Look at this: question) what city did this chapter take place in? answer) New York. Come on. This book takes place in ancient Rome!" Brooke smiled. She loved to hear her brother rattle on about his students. Most of the stories that Chase told were rather amusing.  
  
"Um...Chase?" Brooke wanted to make sure she had his attention.  
  
"Hmm?" Chase looked up from another quiz he was grading.  
  
"Um...We think we found the stray, but we'll have to wait until next full moon to be sure of course," Brooke informed him. He smiled.  
  
"That's great! I'm glad you found them out. Who is it?" Chase asked with curiosity, the quiz on his desk forgotten.  
  
"Helen, you know, the one nobody thought it was," Brooke said to jog his memory.  
  
"Oh, yes. I know who you're talking about. Really?" Chase asked.  
  
"Yup. Weird huh?" Brooke said as she shifted her back pack.  
  
"Yeah, well, let me get my stuff together and you can tell me about it on the way home."


	8. Chapter 7: Waiting for the Weekend

AN: Ok ok ok. I know I'm just the worst person ever for not updating in about 5 months, but AP Chem's a bitch. You see, it takes this thing called your life and kills it. Plus, do you know how hard it is to type with a broken wrist? I swear, I can only type two words a minute. Anyway, I am really sorry for not updating. You can expect one to two chapters over Christmas, but after that, I can't promise anything. Anywho, enjoy. And who knows, I might go write another chapter right now!

Chapter Seven: Waiting for the Weekend

Chase listened intently as Brooke told her older brother about the diary entries that Brooke had found. When she finished Chase looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "Hmm, well that's rather odd. You know what I find strangest of all? Out of at least 192 full moons, she wasn't awake for one." Brooke just shrugged. And really, she agreed with Chase. What was the probability of Helen being asleep for every single full moon of her life? Oh well, she really didn't feel like figuring that one out. Maybe she'd ask Brian.

"Oh, do you have any plans for Saturday?" Chase said as he just remembered something.

"No—wait. Brian said something about going to the Inn for some reason or another," Brooke said as she stared out of the window.

"Yeah, Brian just told me today at lunch after you screamed at him. I can't believe that idiot didn't remind you about his brothers," Chase chuckled. "I would have loved to have heard what you said to him." Chase chuckled again. Brooke looked over at her brother with her eyes slightly narrowed.

"Well excuse me if I don't like to be kept in the dark. And," Brooke added, and Chase stopped laughing, "I believe you were supposed to tell me about them as well. Don't go putting all of this on Brian. It's just as much your fault as his." Wow. am I hypocritical or what, Brooke thought to herself.

The next morning Brooke came into History early and found, to her delight, Helen sitting at her desk sketching something. Brooke made her way over to her artistic friend. Brooke slumped down into the desk next to Helen and tried to see what she was sketching.

"What are you drawing?" Brooke asked. But as soon as Brooke had spoken, Helen covered the drawing with her hand.

"Oh, nothing," mumbled Helen and she put the drawing back into her bag. "So, about Friday. What movie do you want to see?" Helen, bent over her bag, looked up at Brooke for an answer. Brooke hadn't read the paper nor had she watched TV in a while, so she had no idea what was showing.

"Um…What's showing?" Brooke asked.

"Let me think…Oh, some movie about Napoleon—," Helen started.

"Been there. Done that," sighed Brooke.

"Some sappy romance."

"Absolutely against the question!"

"Um, the new James Bond."

"Decided. Those are normally at least decent, if not good," Brooke said decisively. "Golden Eye would have to be my all time favorite." She added as an after thought.

"Really? I haven't seen that one," Helen confessed. Brooke let out a dramatized gasp.

"Then my child, you have not lived! You've missed out on cinematography history! Sean Bean never looked so good with a cut up face!" Brooke faked a swoon and draped her arms and head over the back of the chair.

"Is it that good?" asked Helen who was giggling slightly. Brooke recovered herself and sat back up straight just to gawk at Helen.

"Is it that good? Is it that good?! Doth mine ears deceive me? Of course it's 'that good'. Why else do you think I've been ranting on like an idiot?" Brooke said exasperatedly, but then she thought for a moment. "Well, actually, I'm probably no good at judging movies seeing as I'm the only girl of 11. I was raised on James Bond and Bat Man." Both girls laughed at this. More of their class mates started to come in, so Brooke got up and took her assigned seat behind Helen. Brooke amused herself by watching everyone walk through the doorway. For a Tuesday morning, people were particularly slow and tired. They looked like they were moving through molasses. Then Liz came in mouthing the words to whatever song she was listening to and banging her head slightly to the beat. She completely disrupted the sleepy silence that hung over the room like a heavy fog. She sat down and started drumming her fingers on her desk. Brooke looked back to the doorway when she heard the click of the door knob being turned. Brett and Craig walked in and took the other two empty seats in the back row. The Corpse came through the door. It seemed to take hours just for him to reach the board and write the date on it in white chalk letters. He cleared his throat which was a very disgusting practice for any one listening.

"Today we will be learning about the Magna Carta. Written in1215—" Corpse had his back to the class and started writing dates and people on the board. Brooke blocked him out. She had learned about the Magna Carta in tenth grade and had no desire to repeat history. She spent the time writing down notes on what she remembered about the Magna Carta and the focused her attention on the clock on the wall, willing the hands to move faster. It seemed to take forever for the hands to move to nine o'clock, but the bell finally rang and the class came alive, shuffling papers into their back packs and rushing to the door. Brooke stood and shoved her notebook into her backpack. Helen stood and slung her backpack over her shoulder.

"So, I'll see at lunch and we can work out the details for Friday then?" Helen asked as she slowly made her way toward the door.

"Sure," answered Brooke. She grabbed her backpack and headed to the door.

"Hey Brooke." Brooke turned around to see who had called her name. It was Brett, Brian's brother. Brooke stopped to let him catch up.

"Brett, right?" Brooke asked.

"Yeah. Anyway, you coming Saturday?" He asked as he opened the door for her.

"Planning on it," Brooke answered. "Um, I'll see you latter. I've got to get to PE."

"Yeah, I…um…better get to Math." They two turned and went their separate ways.

After school, Brooke walked to her brother's classroom. Brooke opened the door. Chase was on the phone.

"Right…Ok…Yeah, she's coming… All right. Thanks Vivian. I'll see you Saturday," Chase said and hung up.

"Who was that?" Brooke asked from the doorway. Chase looked up from his desk.

"Oh, that was Vivian, Brian's mom." He stood and grabbed his bag. "Ready to go?" He asked and made his way toward the door.

"Yep," Brooke said as she opened the door and followed her brother outside. "Chase, can I borrow the car Friday night. I'm going to go see the new James Bond movie with Helen at 8."

"Sure. I can get some grading done." The two got in the car and drove home.


	9. Chapter 8: Black Eyes and Blue Buicks

_AN: Yeah, I know, I'm a horrible person for not updating. You don't need to tell me, I already know, thanks to my conscientious, Hellix, and Creative Insanity. Not only was I sick over Christmas, but we also guest and it's hard to sneak away up to the computer. Also, I have this little thing called AP Chem that's taken over my life. The good news: It's over in two months! The bad news: I still have two months left. Two months of AP Chem and crew (rowing). So, in other words…I throw myself upon your mercy. Please forgive me! Plus, I needed to reevaluate this fic and see where I wanted things to go. I'll update ASAP._

**Chapter Eight: Black Eyes and Blue Buicks**

Brooke walked out of the theater with Helen.

"So, what did you think?" Brooke asked.

"Not bad," Helen replied. "But the plot was kinda weak at points."

"You don't watch James Bond for the plot! You watch it for the cool cars and explo—" As Brooke stepped off of the curb, an old, dark blue Buick nearly clipped her. Brooke jumped back up onto the side walk and swore loudly. "What the FUCK! Damn it! Can't people drive any more!" Brooke checked her rage. She didn't need to sprout claws in front of Helen and the other humans walking to their cars.

"Are you ok?" Helen asked. She seemed rather shaken.

"Yeah" Brooke took a calming breath. Both girls jumped slightly when they heard the screech of breaks and the rev of a car engine. The old Buick sped backwards and screeched to a halt in front of the two girls. Brooke glared through the tinted window in front of her. The window rolled down with a soft hum. A boy of about 17 sat in the passenger seat. He ran his fingers through his messy brown hair and smirked up at Brooke and Helen.

"So, what might I ask are two hot pieces of ass doing out so late without a date?" Brooke growled, but Helen got to him first.

Helen stepped in front of Brooke pulled back her fist and punched the guy right in the eye. The boy looked shocked and the other three boys in the car were silent.

"I told you you shouldn't—" said one of the boys in the back seat.

"Shut up Jess!" the guy cupping his eye. "What are you waiting for? Go." He growled to the boy in the driver's seat. The car whined and sprang forward. The girls stood there, watching the car drive away. Brooke studied Helen. She stood with her hands on her hips, glaring after the car. Was it just a trick of the light, or did Helen's eyes hold the golden gleam of the loup-garoux?

Brooke pulled into the garage and put the car in park. She turned the key and removed it from the ignition. Brooke shivered and sank into the warm leather seat. Brooke didn't want to admit it to herself, but she was shaken by the events of an hour ago. After Brooke had dropped Helen off, Brooke had driven around town with no distinct destination for half an hour before she realized she was completely lost. She had luckily stumbled across the high school and found her way home from there. Brooke shivered again. She hated to admit it to herself, but she was terrified of death. And narrowly escaping getting run over had brought those fears back to the surface of her thoughts.

Brooke shoved those thoughts to the back of her mind and tried to focus on Helen. She couldn't be the stray, but it was so blatantly obvious that she was. Brooke really wasn't sure what to do. So she did what she always did when she didn't know what to do. Brooke got out of the car and slammed the door behind her, but instead of going inside, she walked back out of the garage and toward the woods, stripping as she went. Brooke willed the change to go faster and it did. She winced as her bones crunched and she fell to the ground on all fours and took off running.

Brooke rolled over, trying to escape the sun light that was pouring in from the windows, but it was no use. Brooke pulled off the covers and swung her legs over the side of her bed. She winced as she put weight onto her swore and blistered feet. She had run hard and fast the night before and from that she had gained blistered feet and soreness. Brooke nearly tripped over the clothes she had worn the night before and made her way to the bathroom. Brooke shed her pajamas and turned the tap on full blast in the shower.

An hour later, Brooke came downstairs, her wet hair pulled into a messy bun and her in nothing but a bra and jeans, but Brooke had never been modest.

Brooke made a bee-line for the fridge and was about to fling it open and eat everything inside when she saw a note taped to the door. _Morning Sunshine! I didn't want to wake you because I knew you went running last night. Anyway, I had Brian pick me up so you could drive yourself up to the Inn on your own. Try to get there by one or so. I'll see you when you get there! Love Chase_ Brooke turned the note over and there were directions on the back. Brooke glanced over at the clock on the oven. It was 12:55.

"Shit," Brooke swore under her breath. Brooke grabbed the keys off the counter and drove all the way to the high school before she realized she still didn't have a shirt on. After running back to the house to grab a shirt, Brooke sped all the way there and didn't slow down until she turned onto the last rode on Chases directions. Brooke looked at the clock on the dashboard. It was 1:45. Brooke thought that she had made good time considering it should have taken her an hour and forty minutes because she forgot her shirt.

When Brooke turned into the long driveway up to the Inn, she was amazed by how big it was. No, not big, huge, Brooke said to herself. It was three stories tall and well, there was no other word for it, huge. Brooke wondered how many people were in this pack. Brooke parked the car off to the side of the driveway behind a black mustang convertible. Brooke got out of the car and locked the door. Brooke walked up to the Inn and knocked on the door. Brooke could hear music and talk coming from inside. Someone opened the door.

"What are you doing here?" Liz demanded.


End file.
